ECB Rehab

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marty catka

Meat Mopper
Original poster
Nov 5, 2009
264
11
SE MI
Came across a couple of used ECB's at the boat club I belong to the other day and figured we could rehab them for use this season. They could use some new grates and thermometers. One of them is missing the factory one, the other has it's therm, but is probably crap. My question is, will one of the therms on available on ebay fill this hole?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...=STRK:MEWAX:IT

Or do I need to fabricate something as a backer plate. Has anyone actually replaced one of these or just added a new therm to the unit?
 
How big is the hole in the smoker? Those thermometers usually cover a big hole and you could put a few washers on the inside if need be to make it hold. It all depends on how big the hole is on the smoker. Any pictures?
 
No pics, but if you look around the forum there are pics of the basic stock model. If I had to guess, I would say probably about 1 1/4". I found the link to the ECB mods, move legs to outside, add legs to charcoal pan, increase or create air intake on char pan with adjustable damper, etc. I will also try using sand in the water pan.

I'm hoping to get these up and running as we are planning on having a rib/chicken cookoff this summer. Should be interesting.
 
Camera is toast but my mod is really simple. I plugged the thermometer hole with two soup can lids screwed together and drilled a hole just below the top grill for the candy thermometer I had. I found a brass fitting at a lamp store and put washers and nuts on both sides. Worked pretty well as I can remove the thermometer easy when tending the smoker. I put the legs on the outside and cut the legs short on an old turkey fryer burner and voila! Next mod is the top vent. I will probably seal the lid with wood stove gasket too. As it is now I can hold at 220 no problem and it is super good on gas. I don't know the top temp but I would guess you could melt glass if you wanted.
PDT_Armataz_01_03.gif
 
Thanks for the soup can idea. KISS to the max! And JJJonz, that is an awesome link to an awesom mod. Unfortunately, the ECB's I'm working with are the older black models. I did, however find a thread here that shows some major mods on an ECB of my vintage and my crew and I will proceed with those.

For those of you who have the green Brinkman watersmoker, check out the link in jjjonz post.
 
Bass Pro Shops used to have some spare parts for these. I don't know what or if they have anything now, but a couple of years ago I was able to get just the water and coal pan separately.

Burnt through one and rusted through the other where even my tinfoil wouldn't keep everything in there anymore.
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